Effect of thoracic epidural blockade on plasma fibrinogen levels in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy

0.05). After four weeks of treatment, the left ventricular end diastolic diameters (LVEDD) of TEB patients were reduced (72±10 mm vs 69±10 mm, P0.05) and LVEF (32%±14% vs 33%±12%, P>0.05) did not change significantly in the control group.Conclusions The results suggest that plasma FIB levels in patients with DCM were decreased by performing a TEB, in addition to a reduction of the enlarged cardiac cavity and an improvement in cardiac systolic dysfunction. TEB might contribute to lowering the occurrence of thrombus and thromboembolism in patients with DCM. TEB might be a promising therapeutic method to improve the rognosis of DCM patients.